Sunday, August 10, 2008

The way I see it....

The way I see it the Ironman race started back in March. This is not a 17 hour event for me, this is a race that lasts for over a year. I'm only in the beginning leg of the event and so far, I'm doin real fine :)

This weekend was fantastic. I raced solo in Rick's Extreme Heat and hit all my checkpoints and made all the time cutoff's without any real problems. The race started with a hiking section that had 5 CP's scattered throughout the Phoenix Mtn. Preserve and they were well placed. They were far enough away to challenge my running skills and close enough that I never felt overwhelmed by the distance. I had two things on my mind from the start. Pace yourself and don't let Dave catch you walking. Not knowing where Dave was on the course made it a little intimidating for me...he could creep up behind me at any point! On the road I ran...or shuffled really and on the trail I walked the uphill and ran on the downhill...just like most I think. I made it back 1 1/2 hours before the cutoff so I knew at this point I doing fine.

The bike section was really hard mentally and physically. My legs were pretty tired at this point so as soon as I left the TA I stopped, popped about 5 E-Caps, downed a cereal bar and started on my way. I was pretty confident where the first 2 CP's were but after that I was just hoping my navigation was correct. As it turned out, I was spot on!

The downhill portions where really fun, and pretty scary. Finally there was one last climb up to CP 5 where I had not just run out of water, but I had run out of steam. It was really hot by this time and the cut-off was only 30 minutes away. I found my way to the road and it all came back to me...the hours of road biking was going to pay off right here! I could hear Dave's voice talking to me "go...gooo....GOOOOO...." as he always says and I needed that voice at that moment.

As I turned the corner to head back to the TA I had a special proud moment. This was 4 hours of me finishing my first solo race with the physical strength and endurance that I had earned through hours of really hard work. Having all of my friends at the finish line was just the cherry on top. First things first, hug and thank Rick for letting me race in his event. His ear to ear smile as I came to the finish said all I needed to hear.....Second, share this victory with Dave....it was a prideful moment to sit next to him and see the look in his eyes when he said I did a great job! It was like getting my father's approval....A moment I won't soon forget.

Long story short...I swam an approx 1800m open water today....I'm such a bad ass! Let's just end it with that :)